Meet Council candidates running for a seat

By Howard Prosnitz, Staff Writer

Teaneck Suburbanite, April 26, 2012, p. 2

Teaneck Suburbanite asked both challengers and incumbents to provide biographical information and to respond to several questions about current issues. Incumbents were asked an additional question about a major issue during their tenure on the council. All interviews were conducted orally.

The Teaneck non-partisan Municipal election is Tuesday, May 8. Get out and vote. Polls close at 7 p.m. The six candidates running are seeking to fill three seats for a four-year term on the board.

Councilwoman Monica Honis, who is seeking reelection, did not respond to an email and phone messages requesting an interview. The issue questions follow:

1. What is the biggest problem(s) facing Teaneck?
2. What is your vision for Teaneck in 5-10 years?
3. What is your position on restoring council work session?
4. What is our position on the four day work week and re-opening the municipal building on Fridays?

Incumbents were asked the following question:
1. What is a personal initiative that you have taken on the council?

(Only the relevant candidate is shown here)

Barbara Toffler

Barbara Toffler is seeking a second term. Toffler was born in Bronx and moved to Teaneck as a child. She attended Whittier School and graduated from Teaneck High School. She earned a BA in English from Columbia University, where she was a Woodrow Wilson scholar. She earned an MA and a PhD in organizational behavior from Yale University. Toffler taught in the business schools at Harvard, Yale and Columbia and has a consulting firm for 35 years.

She is the author of two books: "Final Accounting," and "Tough Choices: Managers Talk Ethics". Her father, Theodore Ley, was a BOE member and one of the leaders in integrating Teaneck schools in the early 1960s. Toffler moved back to Teaneck with her husband in 2004. She has three grown children, two step-children and three grandchildren. She served on the planning board before running for council.

Personal initiative: She noted that at her urging, for the first time in five years the Township has an attorney's contract that defines what services are covered by the retainer and what is covered by an hourly wage. The previous contract was a one or two sentence resolution, she said. "I fought hard and now we have a full contract for the public to see so that everyone knows what the retainer covers." She noted that the township code requires that the attorney oversee all professional service contracts, an oversight that had been neglected. She has also fought to have every professional contract reviewed by the township attorney, and oversight required by the township code but neglected. Toffler noted that in the summer of 2010 she arranged for two recent THS graduates to work as interns. As a result of their research, the township received bronze certification for Sustainable New Jersey and was awarded a $10,000 grant from Wal-Mart.

Biggest problems: Teaneck's problems are interwoven, Toffler said, she noted that the town has always prided itself on its diversity. "And if you look at us from a distance, we appear to have great harmony, but when you get up close there are painful divisions among groups. Finding ways that the various communities within this greater community of Teaneck can work together is one of the biggest challenges."

Taxes are another major problem. "We have wonderful services and people do not want to lose these services but they do not want to pay higher taxes, Toffler said. Bringing in some commercial development will alleviate the problem, she said. In particular, Toffler would like to see an outlet mall of smaller chain stores and cafes in the Alfred Avenue area.

Vision: "I would like to see a town that behaves the way it looks from a distance. I want Teaneck to remain a diverse town where the differences are respected but that where the differences work together. She favors a continued strong public school system in "a community that identifies problems and in which people work together to find satisfactory solutions."

Workshops: She has strongly advocated at council meetings for at least one workshop a month.

Four day work week: She is in favor of keeping the municipal building open five days a week, but supports staggered hours so employees can still have a four day work week.